Milk chocolate essentially contains:

• Cocoa
• Sugar
• Milk (powder)

Sometimes there are other minor ingredients such as lecithin or vanilla too.

But not all chocolate bars are the same.  There's essentially two types of chocolate...

• Couverture - where cocoa is the dominant ingredient
• Confectionery  - where sugar is the dominant ingredient

There are some very significant differences between chocolate couverture and chocolate confectionery such as:

• Flavour
• Fat content
• Sugar content
• Cocoa content
• Snap
• Mouth feel
• Nutritional value
• Price

The most expensive ingredient in chocolate is usually cocoa, so the higher the cocoa content, the more expensive you can expect the chocolate to be.

To explore some of these differences let's compare the ingredients of Daintree Estates 45% Rich Milk Chocolate with a very well known chocolate favourite, Cadbury 180g Dairy Milk Milk Chocolate.

Ingredients are always listed in descending order of quantity, so comparing the two bars indicates what is influencing the flavour, mouth feel, snap and price of each.

• Daintree Estates 45% Milk Chocolate
  Australian Raw Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Milk Solids, Australian Cocoa Beans, Cocoa Mass, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Powder.
   
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate
  Full Cream Milk, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Milk Solids, Emulsifiers (Soy Lecithin, 476), Flavours.

The above values have partly been sourced from the ingredients and nutritional panels published by each manufacturer, and partly derived based on a typical breakdown of milk solids and cocoa solids.  The values have been rounded for simplicity.

Milk solids
There are approximately 12-13% milk solids in liquid milk made up of lactose (a form of sugar), milk fat, protein and minerals.  The use of milk powder in chocolate deepens and sweetens the flavour and milk fat improves the mouth feel. 

Sugar
Sugar on a milk chocolate label includes lactose from the milk (which is approximately 39% of the milk solids).  The amount of sugar added to a chocolate recipe is total sugars minus the lactose.  The nutritional benefits in sugar are entirely derived from molasses, so the darker the sugar, the more nutrients it delivers.  White sugar has zero nutritional benefit and some argue it is detrimental to human health.

Cocoa solids
Cocoa nibs (the kernel of the cocoa bean used to make chocolate) are approximately 50% fat (called cocoa butter).  Cocoa butter has a melting point around the temperature of the human body, so it generally resists melting until you put it in your mouth and warm it up.  The cocoa content of chocolate is made up of cocoa butter, protein, minerals and fibre.  Cocoa mass (also known as cocoa liquor) is the cocoa nibs ground (conched) to a liquid over many hours, and then allowed to harden again.
 

So which is better?
We are all different and all have different preferences, so there is no better or worse.  Some people prefer things sweet, some don't.  Considering cocoa is a superfood loaded with potent antioxidants, nutrients and minerals, it's fair to say that the higher the cocoa content, the more beneficial the chocolate can be.  Most research suggests that adding more than 30% sugar to chocolate can negate any nutritional benefits from the cocoa.  The healthiest chocolate choice is dark chocolate with a sugar content of no more than 30%.   Milk chocolate may not deliver any health benefits at all.  White chocolate is nothing but fat and sugar and should be avoided or consumed very sparingly as it is quite unhealthy.

Thanks Cadbury!
We could pick any chocolate bar to make the comparison above, but we chose Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate since most of us are familiar with it and therefore it is a good reference.

Cocoa wouldn't be growing in Australia if it wasn't for Cadbury. It was Cadbury Schweppes in 1998 that successfully lobbied the Australian Federal Government to run cocoa growing trials across the top end. Some of the early pioneers of cocoa growing in Australia were former Cadbury staff, and it was their appreciation for the amazing superfood that is cocoa, that motivated them to establish a local cocoa industry. 

In 2011, the world's first commercially produced chocolate made from cocoa grown in Australia was launched by Daintree Estates.

Find out how cocoa growing started in Australia